The Importance of Proper Training

I have seen new hires do some pretty unfathomable things during my career in the restaurant industry. I recently visited a four-star restaurant and was the recipient of a fairly perplexing sales pitch during which the server offered "hairy cooverts" as the nightly special's vegetable. After a moment of puzzlement I realized she meant haricot verts, French for green string beans. I am no food snob, but when servers don't know how to pronounce the foods or wines they are serving it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
The front of the house staff, from the hostess to the floor managers, all serve as ambassadors of your restaurant. From the moment the guest walks in the door until the time they exit they are in constant contact with the members of your staff. Guests expect to be treated professionally and cordially from every member of your team that they come into contact with. For this reason, and many others, proper training is a crucial element of any successful eatery.
Your front of the house staff is there not merely to serve the guest, but also to educate and inform. When a customer asks a staff member a question that they should know how to answer but can't, it conveys a certain apathy. Great managers and trainers know that if they don't put the proper systems in place to ensure optimum communication, education, and honest feedback, they are sure to experience negative end results. The improperly trained employee can impair guest relations, destroy team morale, and cost the business valuable time and money.
In this post I'll discuss some of the basics of training.
Firstly, you need to select superstars on your staff that can assist with training. This can be especially challenging when you are opening a brand new restaurant. It's important to realize that by enlisting an employee as a trainer, you are giving that individual a gigantic responsibility. You must select the right people for this job.
Secondly, you absolutely need training manuals in hard copy, accompanied by systems that help to track new employees strengths and weaknesses. These manuals also help to communicate your businesses' mission, philosophies, standards of operation and policies.
Another must is upper-level inclusion in the training process that involves concise and direct feedback.
These training rules are only the very basics. I have created several training programs, and each one had to be customized for individual restaurants, but the true fundamentals of proper training weave a common thread throughout.
There are so many components to proper training, and I can't list them all here, but if you are reading this and would like to learn more, contact me at petegentzler@yahoo.com. Thanks for taking the time to read my blog. Until tomorrow...mangi bene e sia bene! Grazie!

P.S. Tomorrow: The Saga of Kenny Bloggins begins! Saturday: Linguine Tre Fratelli!
Sunday: ZZZZZZZZZZZZ! Show me the hammock!